Labs

Mobile App Configurator

Native, Hybrid or HTML5 Web App — Which is the best fit for your mobile application project?Use this simple configurator to identify the best approach for the development of your next mobile application. Download the results to share with your stakeholders.
A white paper, detailing technical limitations, and the pros and cons of each approach will be included. Please let us know if you found this tool useful.

Based on your responses, it appears that a Hybrid Mobile Application is the best approach for your project. Hybrid Mobile Apps are built using a combination of web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Hybrid applications are hosted inside a native app and utilize the mobile platform’s WebView. It’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a well-built Hybrid Mobile App and a Native Mobile App. The primary benefit is that you can expect to repurpose about 80 percent or more of the source code across multiple operating systems. A white paper, detailing technical limitations and the pros and cons of each approach, will be included with your download.
Based on your responses, it appears that a Native Mobile Application is the best approach for your project. A Native Mobile Application is a smartphone application that is coded in a specific programming language. Developers will program the native application in Objective C for iOS, Java for Android and C# for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) supported by Windows 10. No code is repurposed when producing the same application for multiple operating systems. The primary benefit of this approach is that you are “closer to the metal.” This is the phrase we like to use at Red Hawk. It means the app will perform very fast when processing complex tasks and you’ll have access to ALL of the device’s sensors, gesture libraries, etc. A white paper, detailing technical limitations and the pros and cons of each approach, will be included with your download.
Based on your responses, it appears that an HTML5 Mobile Responsive Web Application is the best approach for your project. An HTML5 Mobile Responsive Web App is built using the same web technologies as the Hybrid Mobile App, but it is not hosted in a native application and it is not distributed through mobile app marketplaces. The standards for mobile browsers are rapidly evolving, allowing developers to control an increasing number of device-specific features through HTML5 coding, including the camera, push notifications, accelerometer, etc. Many of these features were previously unavailable through the mobile browser and would have required a Native or Hybrid Mobile App to control. This is a viable option for businesses that do not intend for their application to be publicly accessible. The primary benefit is that it is supported across all mobile devices and there is only one codebase to maintain, significantly reducing the cost of ownership. There are limitations with this approach. A white paper, detailing technical limitations and the pros and cons of each approach, will be included with your download.